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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228644">Don't Skip the Bill</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halfblood_Fiend/pseuds/Halfblood_Fiend'>Halfblood_Fiend</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Star Trek 2020 Filled Bingos [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Other, Slice of Life, just some green ensigns fucking around</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:01:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,483</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halfblood_Fiend/pseuds/Halfblood_Fiend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Three Ensigns rumormonger on their first night aboard the Federation Station: Deep Space Nine.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Quodo (implied)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Star Trek 2020 Filled Bingos [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904971</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Star Trek Bingo Summer 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Don't Skip the Bill</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For the Star Trek Bingo 2020:<br/>Vertical Bingo, Prompt 2</p><p>Shapeshifter/Changelings</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Quark’s bar on the Promenade of the station Deep Space Nine was more hopping than Amethyst Berns had ever imagined it was going to be. At first, when she and her friend and old Academy roommate, the Kelpian, Jelep, had received their orders to deploy all the way out here, she’d been upset. She thought it wouldn’t get any action…boring station duty instead of a starship. But from the moment they boarded their last transport crammed with all kinds of colorful people, that had proven not to be the case. After dumping their bags in their assigned quarters as soon as they could, they settled into the infectious liveliness at the most notorious joint this side of the Wormhole. People of all sorts seated themselves at the counter and gathered around Dabo tables, shouting with excitement each time the wheel spun.</p><p>Berns, Jelep, and the hanger-on that they’d caught en route, Antony Higgs, had ordered their drinks and picked an out of the way table to observe it all.</p><p>“So Berns…” the lean boy with a freckled face and mousey hair said in a hushed voice, “<em>What makes you the most nervous about being stationed here?”</em></p><p>Berns scoffed and took another sip of her Risan mai-tai. This was easy. At first, it had been being bored to death, but now her next biggest worry was… “Only thing I’m scared of, Antony, is the horror stories I’ve heard about running this place.”</p><p>“You mean, Chief O’Brian?” asked Jelep in a small voice. They had ordered a Sea Mule from the Ferengi bartender after their fellow ensigns had decided, but the Kelpian still hadn’t touched it, opting instead to examine their folded hands in their lap while Berns and Antony talked. Their behavior was starting to make Berns worried. She hadn’t had time to ask them how they felt about the assignment, really, between packing and preparing and then <em>Antony</em> who was proving to be the type of person who just <em>never shut up.</em></p><p>“A little of him, but more like—” Berns started to agree when she was cut off.</p><p>“Heard he’s got a nasty temper! He’ll go off on anyone!” Antony said excitedly, leaning forward until he received a face full of Berns’ wet napkin.</p><p>
  <em>“¡Chismoso!”</em>
</p><p>That elicited a small smile out of Jelep as their translator kicked in and Berns’ chest swelled.</p><p>“No, I mean <em>literally </em>running this place. All this Cardassian tech?” Berns clicked her tongue. “In a word? <em>Sucks.”</em></p><p>Antony rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He seemed to be a little put-out. Maybe that would keep him quiet.</p><p>Jelep ran their long fingers up and down their tall glass, collecting condensation. “I’m also not looking forward to the Cardassian technology.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>They shrugged and blinked their large blue eyes at Berns. “Feels a lot like the Ba’Ul’s… All this dark and metal… That’s what <em>I </em>am least looking forward to. Living here with that.”</p><p>Berns’ heart went out to them and she wanted to reach out and put her hand on Jelep’s arm but…thought better of it. She’d grown really close to the Kelpian during their time at the Academy but hadn’t wanted to make living together weird with…complications. She didn’t know where they stood now, but the tall and graceful alien had always mystified Berns. Stuck her heart in her throat. Gave her butterflies. All that.</p><p>Antony took a long drink of his ale and regained his composure. “Well, <em>I’m </em>worried about…” He leaned in close over the table, “the <em>shapeshifter.</em>”</p><p>Jelep and Berns had the same reaction. They blinked at him. Berns had half a mind to tell her new acquaintance that nobody had <em>asked</em> him what he was nervous about in the first place, but that felt mean.</p><p>“Shapeshifter?” Jelep echoed dully after a heartbeat. They shrugged. “Now I <em>know </em>you’re making stuff up.”</p><p>“They really have one here!”</p><p>“So soon after the war?”</p><p>Antony leaned in conspiratorially. “He was here <em>before </em>the war. Maybe he was a spy the whole time. <em>No one really knew…</em>”</p><p>Jelep coughed. “I find that extremely hard to believe. If he was here, and he was a spy, why would he still be here? You can’t believe everything you hear, crewman.”</p><p>Antony waved their words away as Berns tipped back the rest of her mai-tai.</p><p>“Why would a shapeshifter make you nervous anyway?” she asked. “Why does he have anything to do with you?”</p><p>Antony tugged on his yellow security shirt and looked up at her, appalled. Apparently, it was supposed to have been obvious. She cocked an eyebrow and shook her head at him.</p><p>Rolling his eyes, Antony said, “<em>He’s the head of security on the station.”</em></p><p>“Ohhh… so you are just afraid of your senior officer,” Jelep replied.</p><p>Antony choked on his drink. “No! I am not!” Berns met Jelep’s eyes and they both smiled and looked away. “I’m…I’m just <em>concerned </em>for my own privacy here.”</p><p>Berns shook her head and gave Antony a steady look. “I dunno…that sounds kind of hateful…”</p><p>Jelep came to her aid, nodding. “Sounds like you are letting your preconceived notions color your perception of the Chief of Security,” they said reasonably, blinking large eyes at him.</p><p>“It’s not about that,” Antony insisted. “It’s about how he gets to just do whatever he wants to keep order around here. He’s not Starfleet, so he doesn’t have to conform to our rules! That doesn’t seem <em>suspect </em>to you?”</p><p>When neither one of them answered, he sighed. “Ugh, gotta explain everything. Look! He has the run of the entire station! But he’s a <em>shapeshifter!”</em></p><p>Jelep collected more condensation off of their glass and wiped it gently on the napkin in front of them. “Meaning?”</p><p><em>“Meaning</em> that he can <em>shift shapes—</em>I mean, <em>come on!</em> He could be anything! He can blend into the wall! He could be anywhere at any time! He could be that glass!!” Antony pointed wildly at Jelep’s untouched drink.</p><p>Momentarily stricken, Jelep released their glass and looked down at it fearfully as though worried it would change at any minute. Berns laughed at him.</p><p>“He could be listening to everything we are saying at <em>any </em>time. You don’t see that as a privacy issue??”</p><p>Berns looked at him doubtfully.</p><p>Antony threw his hands in the air and tried again. “He could be that <em>chair you’re sitting in, Amethyst!”</em></p><p>A shadow fell over their table.</p><p>“Or,” came a gravelly voice, “He could be <em>right behind you</em>.”</p><p>With a squeak, Antony fell out of his chair and onto the floor. Berns might have laughed if she wasn’t trying not to stare at the Head of Security Shapeshifter in question who glowered down at them from under smooth, deep-set brows. She gulped.</p><p>“<em>More</em> new Starfleet recruits. I do hope none of you were planning on causing any trouble on my station,” he said slowly, looking at all three of them in turn.</p><p>“N-No, sir!” Antony said in a small voice. Berns was surprised he could still talk at all.</p><p>“Good,” the shapeshifter replied slowly. “Because I’ll be keeping an eye on you…”</p>
<hr/><p>Odo glowered once more at each shrinking Ensign and felt his annoyance ebb from him only to be replaced by a twinge of regret.</p><p>There were some days in which he was sick of the staring and the speculating about himself, his origins, and his loyalties. On these days he felt the impulse to <em>do</em> something about it. It could have easily been a day where he could ignore the talk but cleaning up Quark’s latest mess for the last several hours had Odo’s head pounding. Evidently that had now become the Ensigns’ problem. He only felt a little sorry.</p><p>He harrumphed once and turned to walk back to where Quark leaned over the bar with a bemused expression, his head tilted. Odo knew he had heard the whole thing.</p><p>“Hope you didn’t just scare my customers out of paying. <em>Again</em>,” the Ferengi said, his eyes slipping back towards the ensigns’ table. “That’ll teach <em>me. </em>Should have known better than to warn you. See if I ever share juicy gossip with <em>you </em>ever again.”</p><p>Odo slipped onto a barstool and grunted as a reply.</p><p>Quark drummed his fingers on the bar and gave Odo a searching look. One he pointedly ignored.</p><p>“Did you really have to be so harsh with them? You and I both know you can’t transform anymore.”</p><p>Something of a smile slipped onto Odo’s face. “Maybe not… but <em>they </em>don’t know that.”</p><p>His own smile crossed Quark’s lips for a moment and then disappeared again, all business. “I’ll have you know, that if they skip their tab, I’m sending <em>you </em>the bill.”</p><p>Odo rolled his eyes.</p><p>“And don’t even <em>think </em>about trying to trick me out of it this time. I know exactly where you sleep! The left side.”</p><p>“<em>Don’t</em> remind me.”</p>
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